A Hail-Mary Pass as the Clock Runs Down

SIBLINGS The 2011 Saab 9-4X is easily as compelling as the Cadillac SRX on which it is based.

THE phrase “troubled adoptions” brings to mind rescued pit bulls or the neglected children from third-world orphanages. Now there’s an automotive analog to trouble prospective parents: the cars of Sweden’s embattled Saab.

Barely 18 months after Saab was rescued by Victor Muller —the car-crazy founder of a tiny Dutch automaker, Spyker Cars — in a last-minute purchase from General Motors, the reconstituted Saab Automobile is again walking the ledge of bankruptcy or dissolution.

Its factory in Trollhattan, Sweden, which produces the 9-3 and 9-5 sedans, has been largely shut down since April after unpaid suppliers halted deliveries. The company announced a $322 million loss for the first six months of the year. And two unions have filed bankruptcy petitions, citing unpaid wages for both blue- and white-collar workers.

At a hearing on Sept. 26, if Saab fails to convince a court that is financially viable, the company could collapse.

Rather than making cars, Saab’s main activity seems to have been engineering financial lifelines. The company hopes to sell a majority stake to a pair of Chinese auto companies for about $350 million. But regulatory approvals from China and Sweden seem far from certain.

Considering all the cliffhanger suspense, it would be hard to fault a consumer for being leery of buying a new Saab, no matter how terrific they might be. But the all-new Saab 9-5 sedan is middling, not miraculous, and it found just 1,354 buyers in the United States through August, a reception that can’t have been helped by the corporate turmoil.

Yet against all odds, the Saab 9-4X, the latest product of this broken home, turns out to be a fairly winning luxury crossover. While the vehicle has its flaws, including excess weight and lackluster fuel economy, it is easily as compelling as the Cadillac SRX on which it is based.

While it is small consolation to fans, the last Saab to spring from the company’s checkered association with G.M. packs a surprising degree of Scandinavian charm — the kind that eluded such generic duds as the Subaru-sourced 9-2X (the notorious “Saabaru”) and the 9-7X, a thinly disguised Chevy TrailBlazer.

The Saab crossover’s mechanicals, including the platform, its V-6 engines and its 6-speed automatic transmission, all derive from G.M. The 9-4X isn’t even built in Sweden, but in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, alongside its Cadillac cousin. Yet Saab has managed to create its own distinctive exterior design and interior environment, and to massage the parts beneath to create a sharper, more European-feeling machine.

From the curb, a rough resemblance to the SRX (and the more pedestrian Chevrolet Equinox) is obvious. But the Saab is the best looking of the three, with its blacked-out pillars, sloping roofline and elegantly detailed rear end.

Inside, the Saab strives to dye its G.M. roots to announce its own style. As with the 9-5, the materials and switches are no threat to a Lexus or an Audi. But in the design world, there’s good monochrome and bad monochrome, and this one is good: your eye takes in its charcoal-tone surroundings in a clean, unbroken sweep. The cabin is also just right for the jet-inspired Saab, a blast of individualism against the more conformist vibe of, say, an Acura MDX or Lexus RX.

The attractive bits include the sporty small-circumference steering wheel, the egg-crate vents and the metal-and-leather shifter. The gauge needles seem inspired by the Green Lantern’s power ring. A cool redundant speed readout recalls a jet altimeter or a bathroom scale, depending on your Mittyesque frame of reference. Press the Saab-signature Night Panel button and the main instruments and infotainment readouts switch off, leaving only the speedometer illuminated.

The G.M.-based touch-screen navigation system was fine three or four years ago, but it’s beginning to fall behind the curve in ease-of-use and sharp graphics.

The front seats are supportive, but the rear cushions are a bit flat for my taste. And while passengers enjoy spacious accommodations, the cargo efficiency is poor for a crossover that’s roughly eight inches longer than an Audi Q5 or Volvo XC60. A Lexus RX is about two inches shorter and an inch narrower than the Saab, yet it has about 30 percent more cargo space.

One Saab tradition never changes, as I was reminded when I drove the 9-4X Aero model: for seemingly 20 years now, Saab models have struggled to find their pricing niche. There’s a base version that’s attractively priced but not quite luxury-class in terms of power or features, and a stuffed trophy model whose price seems, shall we say, optimistic.

The Aero expresses that optimism in a $48,835 base price, or $52,130 after adding a $1,450 panoramic moonroof and a rear-passenger package ($1,845) with twin DVD screens, heated rear seats and three-zone climate control.

More reasonably, the standard 9-4X starts at $34,205, but that’s with front-wheel-drive, G.M.’s lukewarm 265-horsepower 3-liter V-6 and a short list of features.

In theory, the Aero engine might seem a tattered calling card. In the SRX, the breathless turbo and its lurching 6-speed transmission proved such a poor match that Cadillac killed the combination after just one year. For 2012, the SRX gets the solid 3.6-liter V-6 from the CTS sedan.

But Saab applied its turbocharging expertise to smooth the 2.8 engine and tweak the throttle response for more seamless operation (though the transmission still delivered clunky shifts).

The Saab may be no quicker than the Cadillac, at a manufacturer-estimated 7.7 seconds from 0 to 60 miles per hour, but it sure feels like it.

With up to 4,650 pounds to drag around, the 9-4X isn’t a mountain goat in the vein of lighter, higher-performance crossovers like the BMW X3. That weight is reflected in the Aero’s unimpressive rating of 15 miles per gallon in town, and 22 on the highway. The front-drive nonturbo version is rated 18/25 m.p.g.

Yet on the highway, this Saab comes alive, chewing up miles, passing at will, evincing a high-speed confidence that’s impossible to fake. The Aero’s top speed of 145 m.p.h. is one indication of that ability; the basic model tops out at 130 m.p.h.

The steering, pleasingly quick and direct, contributes to that feeling, especially when you dial the Aero’s adaptive suspension to its Sport setting. Saab engineers, if their paychecks clear, could still fine-tune the system: the ride quality of the 9-4X in Sport mode can set teeth to chattering on bad roads. And as in the 9-5, the brakes just feel weird. The pedal is hard as granite, yet stopping power doesn’t increase in a progressive fashion as you add more pressure.

Yet for all its flaws, I enjoyed the 9-4X in a way that’s hard to express in words. That’s what good Saabs have always been like — they were rarely the best performers in a strict sense, but they had an undeniable appeal. And ultimately, this new Saab’s technical issues pale in comparison with the company’s larger problems.

For decades, the automotive world welcomed small-scale underdogs like Saab, with its loyal individualist owners. But that world is dying, and even once-huge brands that could not compete — Pontiac, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Mercury and Saturn — have been sent into exile.

Today, Saab’s true-hearted fans have to ignore more than the competitive set; now they’re asked to ignore potential resale-value losses or service issues if Saab ceases to exist and leaves them holding an orphan. (Leasing the car, in this case, may be the smarter play.)

Even if Saab loyalists are smitten with the 9-4X, they must be willing to take that chance. Everyone else is likely to ignore it. Where that leaves this once-proud company is anyone’s guess.

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INSIDE TRACK: Enough Swedish gloom to make Bergman cry.

A version of this review appears in print on September 18, 2011, on Page AU1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Hail-Mary Pass As the Clock Runs Down. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe